I have 3 Schwinn Sierra's bought from Performance in 2001 before Schwinn did whatever and starting being sold in Wal-Mart. I know these are hardly vintage but thought this forum would offer the best info.

I notice Schwinns are being sold in Performance again, and certainly not Wal-Mart prices nearing $1,000.

What is the difference from a production standpoint on these different eras. Assuming the original era was the Chicago built ones and where did it go from there up to today? Or what is the origin of a Schwinn in Wal-Mart for $85 vs. a Schwinn at Performance for $799 today.

Good question? anyone?

The Schwinn Sierras were not built in the US they were most likely Taiwan built. I have looked at the various Schwinns being offered in the various locations, Walmart, LBS and Performance. The Walmart Schwinns have very low end components on them, the few I have looked at are not assembled properly. The ones at the LBS appear to have a better grade of component are assembled and checked over by a mechanic prior to leaving. I have been toying with the idea of a Schwinn Classic 3 from one of my LBS. Walmart does not sell this bike. If you go to the Schwinn Bikes website you will find the bikes that are sold at the LBS and probably Performance. The Walmart/KMart/Canadian Tire Schwinns are not listed. FWIW the Schwinn name is owned by Pacific Cycles which also owns Mongoose, and GT along with a bunch of other stuff. What appears to be happening IMHO is that Pacific cycles is allowing Walmart to use the name to produce X number of units for so many $ to make Joe Sixpack think he is getting something like he couldn't afford growing up. And is selling the better units at the LBS to catch the baby boomer/nostalgia market. There is a marked difference in the quality of the Schwinn at Performance and the Schwinn bike at Walmart. BTW Performance is on my sh** list...again. I went into two of their stores in NC today for a several items and they had none in stock. Don't people buy seat posts? The one store is little better than a dump, dirty, disorganized and no clue. The other store was clean, organized and had a marginally better selection but still did not have seat posts in either of the two sizes I was looking for, and did not have the tires I was looking for...oh well.

Aaron

Walmart Schwinns, and bike shop Schwinns are all made in China, or Yaiwan, however, the department store Schwinn modles are only Schwinn in name. Schwinn doesn't sell those models in bike shops at all, and in fact they aren't really Schwinns at all. They are Schwinn branded, but made by some unknown bike company for Walmart. Target also sells a model of "Schwinn" in the local store that is a fairly well made, nice hybrid ( I forget the model, High Sierra maybe?), with 700c wheels, and a nice alloy frame, and suspention for $199. If I didn't have a garage full of old bikes, I'd concider buying one.

IMHO, wahoonc's description of the differences between LBS (Performance) Schwinn's and X-Mart Schwinns is right on.
But that has to be one of the weirdest marketing plans. A name brand marketing it's own knock-offs. If that was an effective plan, I'm sure others would try it, but I don't see firms like Seiko, SONY, Rolex, Lexus, Caddilac, to name a few, trying this approach. It's really strange.

I had an '02 vintage Schwinn Sierra GS that I bought from an LBS. I think it was made in Taiwan. SDRAM 5.0 shifters and derailers, I think. Aluminum frame, front shock, seatpost shock. Pretty much a perfect utilitarian mountain bike based comfort bike. I used it to commute 5 miles round trip in Ann Arbor. I did end up replacing the left grip shifter with a SDRAM 7.0 - the original and the 5.0 replacement both broke, so my bike shop took pity on me and upgraded it. I avoid grip shifters now.

That bike got my parents back into cycling (my mom borrowed it when she came to visit, and loved it, so she and my dad went home and bought some Trek comfort bikes), and got me home from the bar more times than I can count. Sadly, some scumbag broke into our garage and stole it after we moved here. I kind of miss it, and whenever I see a bum on a mountain bike I look to see if he's riding my Sierra. I hope someone, at least is getting some use out of it.

Edited to add: I think I paid about $450 for it, just to give you an idea of what they went for a few years ago.

SDRAM 7.0?



-Kurt

Hahahaha...that was the funniest thing I saw today...

I did not know what to say when I saw the Schwinn Sting-Rays (chopper version) at Toys-R-Us...

Perhaps Schwinn still is going "no hands".

It'd be funnier if it were DDR2

-Kurt

It is all about the money. I would hazard a guess that 60%-75% or more of the "name brand" products you buy today are little more than licensing agreements. Just about all of your small home appliances and most of the branded clothing. Another venerable brand that I am familiar with is Coleman camping equipment. They got bought out IIRC by Home Brands. The Coleman liquid fuel stuff is still made in the US everything including the LP powered stuff is from China from several different manufacturers. They used to make only camping equipment with a few licensed products, now it is mostly licensed products with a bit of camping equipment and most of it is garbage. I have some early LP Coleman stuff that is twice as heavy as the stuff you buy in X-mart today. The liquid gas lanterns are still pretty much the same. I have lanterns from the '50s up thru around 2000. Another thing that has gone away with the licensing is the availability of repairs and repair parts.

Aaron

Pacific is an odd company, when it comes to producing bikes. They bought up all the big names that use to mean something, and completely destroyed their image by selling low grade junk. It's all about the money, and they're marketing those names to the people that used to know them as good brands. They end buying them for their kids thinking they're the same quality, which is pretty sad IMHO. The Schwinn "heritage" board will reprimand or ban you for saying bad things about Pacific. It's the main reason I now hang out here instead. Who wants to be on a board full of people afraid to complain about a bad product?? Reminds me of certain type of government, lol.,,,,BD

Yup! I got booted off the Schwinn "heritage" board because I told them what I think about their junk,was told that I should apologize to get back on...NOT! If it wasnt for them booting me I wouldnt have found this site and all of you fine folks!

Welcome to the site, even though it's a little belated. I have been noticing more and more of the old names from there. Not sure how many were here to begin with, or moved over. I'm Heavy-Duti on the "heritage" board. I have switched from cruisers and choppers to road bikes, and haven't looked back yet, hehe.,,,,BD

Yeah, we were shopping in wal mart, but not for bikes. LOL!

https://www.schwinnbike.com/heritage/...ad.php?t=40620

The Chinese sure are fond of their censorship aren't they? I've been reading the journal of a couple folks biking from Beijing to Paris. All of the last month they were in China the guy wasn't able to update his blog. The first time he tried once they entered Russia it worked fine!

As an auto mechanic I've seen the good, bad, and ugly of replacement parts coming out of China for some 10 odd years now. At first they were horrible and we tried our best to find parts from somewhere else whenever possible. Over the years they've gotten better to the point their stuff looks as good if not better than anything I've ever seen.

Disclaimer: Our shop only deals with Car Quest and NAPA, as that is all we have in our area. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the cheaper parts store chains still use the cheaper made Chinese parts but I have no direct knowledge of that.

Now as far as the cheap Schwinns compared to the higher end bike shop Schwinns. I have no doubt the higher end Schwinns are a quality product at a good value. Would I buy one? No. Pacific has sullied the Schwinn reputation so bad that the bike would lose 2/3rds of it's value the moment it rolls off the showroom floor. A used one 10 years from now? Probably. If they hold up as well as I suspect they will, I wouldn't mind picking one up cheap cheap cheap.

Sony, for instance, produces low end cameras that are sold at Wally world etc, but are not marketed at your LCS. Likewise Olympus, Canon, and Nikon. They have used this approach for some time. John Deere also markets low end mowers at Lowes, Home Depot etc.

I post over at the Schwinn / Pacific boards as "the70'sbike". I have nothing bad to say about them because I simply don't care about what they make now, at least not when it comes to potentially owning any of it. They don't make anything I would buy now. If it didn't come out of Chicago or Waterford, LeTour, Volare, etc., I don't want it!

Bicycling Magazine did just this comparison a few years back, perhps they have a searchable archive.

Whirlpool, Kenmore and Frigidaire come to mind.

-Kurt

Aaron, this is what I started to do...you can order off their website and have it delivered to the Performance store for free. There's an easy clickable option to do this now. More selection on their website, prices are sometimes cheaper and you can take advantage of the on-line only coupons.

I ride one of the last of the REAL Schwinns, and it's old enough to vote.

For the prospective buyer of a new bicycle, the marque should no longer mean anything at all. Sad ...

I do that on occasion...but they are out of stock on several things I need on the website (go figure...) I guess I might just need to drop $3-4 grand just to update my technology...NOT! I need a 26.4 seat post for my expedition bike, don't want CF or a suspension the only one they have in stock in that size is the $149.99 fancy dancy suspension post. I just ordered what I wanted from my LBS. The other post (27.2) they have on the website, but are out of the tires I wanted...damn if you do and damn if you don't. Small wonder people are buying more and more on the internet. I realize that they can't stock everything, but I have a hard time believing that basics like a seat post for a steel MTB is that rare a request.
[rant] But when I look around the various stores (and not just bike shops) the selection is getting slimmer with waaay too much product placement and emphasis on the bling and profit margin. Then they back it up with poor service [/rant] I asked the one Performance shop about ordering a basic post in the size I wanted and they told me to check out their website...

We own a small retail shop and do a pretty reasonable job of keeping stock available for walk in purchases, but the nature of our business (Bridal, Formal, Pageant wear) is pretty much special order.

Aaron

Whatever company has owned the name has been "diluting" Schwinn for like forty years. By the 1970s the phenomenon of "real Schwinn" and "knock-off Schwinn" was well established, and when Schwinn-the-company hit really hard times in the 1980s the phenomenon accelerated.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if revenue on licensing the name to knock-offs far exceeds what has been earned from producing high-quality Schwinns.

Yea, I know what you mean...I went to Performance looking for some ball bearings. Um, "We don't carry that item".

My survey of Wal-Mart bikes over the years has produced the obvious conclusion everyone else has reached- poor quality. But also beware- the build of the bike will also be poor quality. My girlfriend has a cheap Wal-Mart house brand "Roadmaster" mountain bike. Whoever put it together was using pneumatic tools and stripped the living hell out of the left side nut on the front wheel. My guess is that they had a minimally trained backroom worker putting them together by the dozen- not a formula for a proper build. I used every piece of equipment I had on hand and couldn't free it (everything from conventional, high quality tools to novelty special tools for just this job; but no luck). I've given up on getting it loose- the bike is a cheapo anyway.

I understand that many people buy at Wal-Mart because they're stuck doing so, but the combination seems exactly the right thing to poison the Schwinn reputation and trademark. I understand there is perhaps an element of being a "tademark snob" here, but I'd hate to think that in the coming years people will remember their childhood Schwinns as cheap junkers from Wal-Mart, when the classic Schwinns had a much different reputation.